When teaching martial arts, particularly to juniors we sometimes run into problems with discipline. Most people assume that you can hand out physical exercise as a good disincentive to poor behaviour, however we have several (usually male) students that enjoy doing push-ups etc. If the problem is serious and involves only a single student then having them sit out works very well.

What have people found to be an effective way to discipline an entire class (when either all or the majority of students are involved) for low level problems?

Absolutely! Spoken like someone who has had to learn a lot of things about teaching kids the hard way :)
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TrevokeFeb 1 '12 at 14:28

Some kids get a rise making other in the class to push ups, and/or like showing off when they do them alone as punishment. I think tacone's answer is bang on, but if punishment is needed have them sit out for blocks of time.
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SwiftFeb 1 '12 at 17:11

Yes, yes, yes. The more active you keep youngsters, the more fun they have and the less they play up because they're bored. I used to help teach an under-11's class and also an 11-16 class, so I've also learned this from experience.
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Simon Peter ChappellFeb 6 '12 at 17:39

When I'm teaching kids' classes, there tends to be 2 types of kids: the one that want to learn, and the one whose mom drops them off so they can have some peace and quiet. Those are the trouble makers every time!

I tend to pair them up with a hard-working student; this helps keep them in line. At our club, pushups are traditionally the punishment for acting out, but if the behaviour is something that would endanger another student, I usually sit them aside for a few minutes.

I always iterate at the beginning of class what won't be tolerated, and what the consequences will be. This keeps them in line most of the time. Usually if something starts I just have to give a look with a little eyebrow raise and it stops dead.

As far as if the whole class is missbehaving, before you get too harsh on them, think about whats going on. Is it:

the last day of school?

the full moon?

a pa day?

All these things mess with the students ability to focus, and sometimes just shifting the focus of the class from being very technical and focus oriented to group "games" that build skills can fix the insanity.

Try the opposite, have them sit in the corner and do nothing while the rest of the class gets to do push-ups. Just don't make it a punishment for the rest of the class, they get to do push-ups because push-ups are good for you.

I have a slight problem with the idea that anyone coming to a martial arts class needs disciplining. Based on the way you ask your question, we can assume it is, in fact, 2 questions.

What's the most effective way to discipline adult students?

What's the most effective way to discipline junior students?

In response to the former, I ask you to consider yourself, an adult, being disciplined by another adult. Perhaps you've been disruptive, intentionally or not. Would you rather a.) be humiliated or singled out or made to be the cause of public scorn, or b.) politely asked not to return if you can't control yourself? I'll presume the answer to be "b", assuming of course that you are a logical and empathetic adult.

In response to the latter, you simply have to demonstrate what it means to be disciplined, rather to enforce some form of punishment. If you can not do this effectively, then you do not belong teaching youth classes. There are, of course, tricks to doing just this that many have not figured out, but they are relatively simple:

Tell the kids "Do XYZ." rather than "Don't do ABC." In order for a human being to understand a negative, they must first process the positive, then negate it. Children typically do not have the attention span to process further than the affirmative.

Keep it simple. Studies have found that children watching Sesame Street pay attention when they understand something; further, they tend to "tune in" on 90% of Blues Clues.

Keep them entertained. Find new ways to present the same information repetitively without boring them. Children will become disruptive if they're disinterested; they become disinterested when they become overwhelmed; they become overwhelmed when there's too much information that they do not understand.

Keeping abreast of educational research studies like those conducted around children's education programs (like Blue's Clues and Sesame Street) can make you a far better educator of children. If you eliminate the idea of disciplining the students and instead teach them to discipline themselves, you'll have a far easier time managing your class.

Under 10's? It needs to be fun. You're not going to have a dojo of little angels. You're best bet is to try to keep it down to a low roar!

Like most kids, they actually like a routine. They want to know what's happening next (it helps with their concentration and engagement). Set and keep boundary's. They should know not to 'misbehave' before class, to stand quietly when bowing in (or whatever your 'start of the class' procedure is) and they should know that the first thing they start to do is warm ups. (I get them to run a circuit around the dojo then get them to jump, hop, skip, side walk, roll, crawl, etc etc - pretending to be animals is good too!)

Then you do your "technical bit", then a bit of practice, then a game. Rinse and repeat.

Give the kids a favourite game at the end (we play "sumo" with them). This is their reward for a good lesson.

As a martial arts teacher, the way you behave directly influences the kids (and the parents) so you must never lose your temper.

It's much better to reward good behaviour than to discipline bad behaviour. If you know "little Johnny" is a PITA then try to catch him doing something good, and reward him (try to get that in early). If he then starts to play up then tell him your disappointed 'cause he was doing so well (and the warning) and if he repeats the misdemeanor then he will sit out for 5 minutes. Then catch him doing something good again (real quick).

It's funny, but it does work! Everyone wants to be accepted, wants to be liked. Some kids have learnt that they can get attention from being bad. You need to show them that they can get better results by "just not being that bad".

Finally, at the end of the lesson, re-enforce the good things he did and say "see ya next week!". And start next week completely fresh with no hang ups or carry over from the previous week. If the kids comes back, it's 'cause he wants to come back so give him credit.